Lubbock Health Department Wants You To Be Cautious When Receiving Pedicures

It starts out looking like a mosquito bite but then develops into boils on the shins, that's how the Lubbock Health Department describes a rare bacterial infection seven people have come down with. And it turns out, all those patients had just shared the same treat - a pedicure.

If not properly sanitized you could develop a bacterial infection from a foot spa. While Ken Conden from the Lubbock Health Department says you can't die from the infection, it's a serious disease. However, you can take precautions. "Don't shave your legs the day you have your foot bath or pedicure, you can cause micro nicks in your skin that you can't see that the bacteria would just love to enter and grown in," he explains

Other things to look for:

Make sure the foot spa is disinfected.

That the establishment has a license.

Pedicurists should wash their hands before touching your feet.

Make sure the tools used are sanitized

Misty Batchelor, a stylist from Aalon Salon, agrees that cleanliness is the most important factor when giving a pedicure, she uses bleach and water mix to clean her foot spa and never uses tools to remove dead skin cells. "You can't sanitize those things, if you're using those you're not going to be able to clean them and you're going to carry that over to someone else's feet and that's not good," she says.

Instead she exfoliates with her hands. "It's going to definitely clean their feet to make sure it's not going to get what you've already sanitized dirty," she explains.

While you should be cautious, Conden says you don't have to cancel your next pedicure. Last July the Texas Cosmetology Commission passed new regulations to enforce cleanliness. "We probably won't be seeing further cases due to the increase, sanitations and regulations regarding the sanitation of foot baths and spas," says Conden.

He adds that if you recently had a pedicure and notice bumps on your legs, you should call your doctor or dermatologist immediately.